Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

's ''Préludes'' are 24 pieces for solo

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, divided into two books of 12 preludes each. Unlike some notable collections of preludes from prior times, such as Chopin's Op. 28 preludes, or the preludes from

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

's ''

The Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time, ''clavier'', meaning keyboard, referred to a variety of i ...

'', Debussy's do not follow a strict pattern of tonal centers. Each book was written in a matter of months, at an unusually fast pace for Debussy. Book I was written between December 1909 and February 1910, and Book II between the last months of 1912 and early April 1913.

Pieces

Two of the titles were set in

quotation mark Quotation marks (also known as quotes, quote marks, speech marks, inverted commas, or talking marks) are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to set off direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase. The pair consists of an ...

s by Debussy because they are, in fact, quotations: ''«Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir»'' is from

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fr ...

's poem ''Harmonie du soir'' ("Evening Harmony"). ''«Les fées sont d'exquises danseuses»'' is from

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...

's book ''

Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens ''Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens'' is a novel by J. M. Barrie, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, and published by Hodder & Stoughton in late November or early December 1906; it is one of four major literary works by Barrie featuring the widely kn ...

'', which Debussy's daughter had received as a gift.

Performance practice

An important precedent was set on 3 May 1911 by the pianist Jane Mortier (to whom works were dedicated by

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He be ...

and

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

) who played the entire first book of preludes at the

Salle Pleyel The Salle Pleyel (, meaning "Pleyel Hall") is a concert hall in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, designed by acoustician Gustave Lyon together with architect Jacques Marcel Auburtin, who died in 1926, and the work was completed in 1927 by ...

in Paris. The German-English pianist Walter Morse Rummel, a student of

Leopold Godowsky Leopold Mordkhelovich Godowsky Sr. (13 February 1870 – 21 November 1938) was a Lithuanian-born American virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher. He was one of the most highly regarded performers of his time, known for his theories concernin ...

, gave the premiere of the entire second book of preludes in 1913 in London. Initially, Debussy and other pianists who gave early performances of the works (including Ricardo Viñes) played them in groups of three or four preludes, which remains a popular approach today. This allows performers to choose preludes with which they have the strongest affinity, or those to which their individual interpretive gifts are most suited. There is a strong tonal relationship between the preludes that suggests that the published order of the preludes is not arbitrary. For example, the first three preludes in the first book (''Danseuses de Delphes'', '' Voiles'', and ''Le Vent dans la Plaine'') revolve around the key of B. In these first three preludes, allusions to the key of B disappear and reappear, yet a strong sense of fluidity and connection between the preludes is still maintained. However, the order of the preludes is not considered imperative, as is the case with Chopin's preludes, for example. Several pianists have performed the set out of order, and at least one recording, by Ivan Ilić, changes the order of the set entirely. The first complete recording of both sets was made in England in 1938 by the South African pianist

Adolph Hallis Adolph Hallis (4 July 1896 – 1987) was a South African pianist, composer and teacher. Life Hallis was born in Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony and travelled to England in his twenties, where he studied at the Royal Academy of Music; his teachers ...

The titles

The titles of the preludes are highly significant, both in terms of their descriptive quality and in the way they were placed in the written score. The titles are written at the end of each work, allowing the performer to experience each individual sound world without being influenced by Debussy's titles beforehand. At least one of the titles is poetically vague: the exact meaning of ''Voiles'', the title of the second prelude of the first book, is impossible to determine for certain, since plural nouns do not distinguish

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most culture ...

s as the singular forms may do (in French, ''voiles'' can mean either "veils" or "sails"). The title of the fourth prelude ''«Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir»'' represents a citation from

’s poem ''Harmonie du soir'' from his volume of poems ''

Les Fleurs du mal ''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; en, The Flowers of Evil, italic=yes) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. ''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First publish ...

''.

Orchestrations and adaptations

Numerous

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

s have been made of the various preludes, mostly of ''La fille aux cheveux de lin'' and ''La cathédrale engloutie''. Complete orchestrations of all 24 preludes include versions by Pavica Gvozdić,

Peter Breiner Peter Breiner (born July 3, 1957, in Humenné, in former Czechoslovakia, present day Slovakia) is a Slovak pianist, conductor, and composer. Breiner began to play and study the piano at age four. At age nine, he started to study at the Cons ...

Luc Brewaeys Luc Brewaeys (25 October 1959 in Mortsel, Belgium – 18 December 2015 in Antwerp, Belgium) was a Belgian composer, conductor, pianist and recording producer at the VRT (Flemish Radio & Television). He studied composition with André Laporte in ...

Hans Henkemans Hans Henkemans (The Hague, 23 December 1913 – Nieuwegein, 29 December 1995) was a Dutch pianist, teacher, composer of classical music and psychiatrist. Henkemans was one of the most important Dutch composers of his time. From 1926 to 1931 he st ...

and

Colin Matthews Colin Matthews, OBE (born 13 February 1946) is an English composer of contemporary classical music. Noted for his large-scale orchestral compositions, Matthews is also a prolific arranger of other composer's music, including works by Berlioz, ...

Sean Osborn Sean Osborn (born 1966) is a former clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and a regular substitute in the clarinet section of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. He has been a student of Stanley Hasty, Frank Kowalsky, and Eric Mandat. Cla ...

and conductor Noam Zur have orchestrated the first book. The ''Préludes'' were adapted to form the dynamic soundtrack of ''

Untitled Goose Game ''Untitled Goose Game'' is a 2019 puzzle stealth game developed by House House and published by Panic Inc. Players control a goose who bothers the inhabitants of an English village. The player must use the goose's abilities to manipulate object ...

''.

References

Sources *

External links

*
Debussy's ''Préludes'' – A Beginners' Guide – Overview, analysis and the best recordings
The Classic Review *Performances o
Book 1
an
Book 2
of the Preludes by Paavali Jumppanen from the

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was found ...

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...